Batbat
The batbat is given in all Benguet towns, by the Kankanay as well as the Nabaloi, to cure or prevent sickness and to bring riches and long life to the giver. The ceremony is held for the same general purpose by both tribes, but the manner of celebrating it is different.
In the Kankanay towns from one to twelve hogs may be used for this ceremony. The number varies according to the wealth of the giver. Unlike the Nabaloi they do not pretend to deceive the spirits by tying hogs which are not to be killed. The following story regarding this difference was related in Legleg,[2] a barrio of Kapangan:
Ud nabaon si Lūmawig winatwatun ifūgau gūdū ta siay adūūm si okana. Gomosad pay sin kayilokoan, ay mankadū si gūdū adīda donongun. Isakayatna pay sin Nabaloi; inamtada di nangia si esa ay yatdaum adadū di indawatna. Sin nangi bagaana sin Kankanay pay yaanda si adadū.
Sīa say gapona ay iwud dīidawat si Iloko sin batbat, mo din Inibiloi ya anda si ūsaloi, mo di Kankanay pay yaanda si adadū.
Long ago Lumawig gave the people hogs so that they would give some of the increase. When he came down from the sky to the Ilocano country and asked for hogs, they did not comply. He asked the Nabaloi; they knew how to give him one and pretend that many were given. When he asked the Kankanay, they gave him many.
This is the reason the Ilocanos do not celebrate the batbat; why the Nabaloi give one (hog) only; why the Kankanay give many.
Before each hog is killed, the mambunong prays as follows while holding a cup of tapuy in his hand:
Kabigat ay maybūngan, Lūmawig ay maybūngan, Būliwan ay maybūngan, Pati ay maybūngan, Gatan ay maybūngan, Dūlo ay maybūngan, Bintawan ay maybūngan, Balitok ay maybūngan, Ubang ay maybūngan, Bangon ay maybūngan, Būgan ay maybūngan, Singan ay maybūngan, Ubagan ay maybūngan, Kolan ay maybūngan, Angtan ay maybūngan, Soyaan ay maybūngan, Amdoyaan ay maybūngan, Wigan ay maybūngan, Mantalau ay maybūngan; mo wada pay di sangbounda ya bomaknangda ut ta mapno di dapatanda, ya mapno di kuboda, ya magabay sinanak, ya gamun ya salon, to wada pansosokubantayo si tapin di agou. Bomangan sin sasakīt.
Kabigat to whom prayer is offered, Lumawig to whom prayer is offered, Buliwan to whom prayer is offered, Pati to whom prayer is offered, Gatan to whom prayer is offered, Dulo to whom prayer is offered, Bintawan to whom prayer is offered, Balitok to whom prayer is offered, Ubang to whom prayer is offered, Bangon to whom prayer is offered, Bugan to whom prayer is offered, Singan to whom prayer is offered, Ubagan to whom prayer is offered, Kolan to whom prayer is offered, Angtan to whom prayer is offered, Soyaan to whom prayer is offered, Amdoyaan to whom prayer is offered, Wigan to whom prayer is offered, Mantalau to whom prayer is offered; since there is praying here may it cause them to be rich so that their yards will be filled with pigpens, and may they be lucky in having children and money and cattle pasturing, so that there will be our eating and drinking together some other day. May the sick be cured.
After the hog has been killed, the mambunong takes the stick with which it was stuck, and swings it while praying as follows:
Sīka pay ay wikibuyak ta dakami di omanda ya bomaknang, nakasnatna, tan onmandakami, ta isakladmi di pūogmi ya malipunan kami si anak, gamung, ya salon.
You, the stick, are swung so that we shall live long and become rich, so that we shall live long, so that our legs shall be as horn, so that we shall have many children, much money, and many cattle grazing.
The prayer recorded above is used in Legleg and all the other Kankanay barrios of Kapangan, but in Kibungan the prayer recorded under the mandit is also used for batbat. In Buguias the souls of the dead and the malevolent spirits as well as the deities are addressed, and the prayer as a whole is probably more similar to the Nabaloi prayer for batbat than to the one recorded above.
Dancing the tayo forms a part of this ceremony in all Benguet Kankanay towns.
The ceremony may last from one to three days, and is generally more expensive than the batbat of the Nabaloi. As a rule more hogs, tapuy, and rice are used.
It will be noted that in the prayer used by the Kankanay for batbat only the deities are addressed, while the Nabaloi not only relate a sacred story, but also petition the souls of ancestors, the pasang, and some of the constellations.
In some respects the Lepanto ceremony called keslei resembles the batbat.
Among the Benguet Kankanay as well as the Nabaloi the term saad is used to designate the batbat on a small scale.